


Blade of Marmora

by Grey_eyed_Birdie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) Is Not Okay, M/M, Shiro (Voltron) is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23881006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grey_eyed_Birdie/pseuds/Grey_eyed_Birdie
Summary: “His suit has the ability to create a virtual mindscape, reflecting its wearer's greatest hopes and fears.” What if instead of seeing Shiro, Keith sees someone else?
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 106





	1. The Trials of Marmora

**Author's Note:**

> I always imagined this episode going more of a Klance direction. Also, the additional conversations we all know we needed and didn't get because the episodes are way too short.

_“How long does this go on?”_

_“Sometimes, the greatest challenge is knowing when to stop.”_

_“He'll never quit.”_

_“One way or another, this will end. Knowledge or death.”_

\--

“Guess I really wasn’t meant to go through that door,” Keith sighed through his words. Tired and hurt he wobbled into the new room. His muscles ached so much, he didn’t know what he would do if he had to fight anyone else.

Walking further into the room he tripped over his own feet and his legs couldn’t hold him any longer. He fell, only barely managing not to land on his face, and felt all the air come charging out of his lungs. He lay there for a second before turning onto his back and trying to calm his breathing. He hurt so much. Especially his shoulder which throbbed with pain, his arm going numb.

Keith lay there waiting. He didn’t know if someone would attack him or if the test was over, or even if he would fail it by just laying there on the ground, but he could barely move and he didn’t have the will power to make himself get up. He just wished something would happen so that he’d know for sure, if he failed or should continue, if someone would finally give him some answers, if-

“Keith!” came a voice from the distance, somewhere around the edges of the room as if the person had just walked in. He thought maybe he recognised that voice, but then again he was really tired, it could have just been one of the Blades. Hurried footsteps came his way but he could sense they weren’t threatening, just concerned. As they got closer, Keith’s curiosity, and somewhat still existent self preservation instincts, started to kick in and he managed to haul himself up to a sitting position.

“Lance? What… What are you doing here?” Keith said as Lance knelt in front of him in full paladin armour, eyes zapping around every inch of his body registering his cuts and bruises. His hand almost reaching towards Keith’s shoulder but then falling back down hesitantly.

“Well, you guys have been here for a while and I was, I mean, we were worried about you. We decided to come in and I’m glad we did, look at the state of you,” Lance said as he finally looked at Keith’s face, eyes full of worry. Keith didn’t remember having ever seen that look in Lance’s face, at least not aimed at him. Keith only barely registered that Lance had said ‘we’ but he was the only paladin there. The others were probably with Shiro and the Blades, but why had Lance been the one to come get him?

“You shouldn’t have come,” he said as he moved to try and get up. Moving was a bad idea, he was really hurt and tired and it ended up only giving Lance more leverage as he managed to get even closer to Keith. 

“Why not?” the other boy asked, putting his hand on Keith’s chest, stopping him from trying to get up again. “Keith, what are you even doing, I thought you guys were going to talk to them, not engage in psycho death trials.”

“I have to do this, Lance, it’s important,” he said, hyper aware of Lance’s hand on his chest. A warm presence on top of the cold Marmora suit he was wearing.

“But why?” Lance looked so confused and so worried that Keith almost started questioning it himself. Why _was_ he fighting so hard to keep this knife, to know more? Maybe knowledge would only hurt him more. “Enough is enough, dude, just give them the knife and let’s go.”

“I told you, it’s important,” Keith took Lance’s hand and removed it from his chest, he had to focus. “I can’t do that, I have to find out more about myself. I need to know about my family.”

He had begun moving to get up again when Lance said “I thought we were a family, all of us the- the paladins. We’re your family.” 

The way he said that, so carefully, in a way he had never spoken to Keith before, made Keith’s heart pound in his chest. Hearing those words made him pause and look into the worried, hurt, blue eyes staring back at him. He was hyper aware of how close they sat.

\--

Shiro watched the scene unfold below barely understanding what was happening. He knew that wasn’t Lance, it couldn’t be. The other paladins were still in the castle, trapped outside for another whatever many hours. 

“Is that a hologram?” He asked, voicing his concerned thoughts to Kolivan as he watched not-Lance shuffle closer to Keith on the floor and put his hand on the other boy’s chest.

“His suit has the ability to create a virtual mindscape, reflecting its wearer's greatest hopes and fears,” Kolivan answered, also watching the two boys, one real and one not. “And, at this moment, your friend desperately wants to see a friendly face.”

Shiro thought about those words. Keith wanted to see a friendly face and he pictured… Lance? Not Shiro himself, who was there on the base with him? Not the princess, or the other paladins who have been nicer to Keith. But Lance? His so-called rival?

\--

“I still need to know about my past,” Keith told Lance, trying not to hurt his fellow paladin, trying not to show how much those words, that idea that they could be a family, affected him. “Where I come from… who I am.”

“Keith, I know who you are,” Lance said, moving somehow even closer and grabbing Keith’s hand. “You’re stubborn and annoying but a damn good pilot and…” Lance blushed and looked down, breaking their eye contact. “And a good friend. Voltron would never be the same without you and you don’t need some stupid knife to tell you any of this.”

“Friend? I thought you hated me…” Keith studied Lance’s face waiting for him to break, to say it was a joke, he didn’t understand why Lance was being so nice to him and he struggled to not focus all his attention on the way Lance held his hand, squeezing slightly, his thumb brushing up and down in a comforting way.

“I never hated you,” Lance said, his eyes immediately zapping back to Keith’s face. “I- I just… I was kind of jealous of you… but I’ve always admired you and it took me a while to figure out some things because I… well…” he paused, looking deep into Keith’s eyes in a way that made Keith want to be as impulsive as Lance always accused him of being. “Keith, I like you. I have for a while. I came down here because I was worried something had happened to you and damn, I don’t care about any alliances or the freaking war if you’re getting hurt. I just care about… you.”

Keith was almost stunned into silence. This didn’t seem possible, it was like his dreams were coming true in the weirdest way imaginable and all he could say was: “What?”

“I have ever since the Garrison,” Lance admitted, smiling shyly at him and rubbing his thumb over his hand again. “I just… didn’t really have the courage to tell you.” He paused for a second and then chuckled. “Since I’m finally telling you all of this I might as well admit that, well, remember the day Sendak took over the castle? That I was pretty banged up and you guys managed to take it back? I uh… I remember… everything… I just said I didn’t because, I don’t know, maybe I was just scared.”

Keith didn’t know what to say, words seemed to be less of his strong suit at that moment than they ever were as he just watched Lance, open mouthed and in shock.

Lance smiled at him and sighed. He let go of Keith’s hand to stand up and then offered it back to him with a smile. “Now come on, let’s go.”

“Lance,” Keith said, feeling like it was the last thing he wanted to do. All he wanted was to grab Lance’s hand and let him take him wherever he wanted. “I told you. I can’t,” he managed to say, attempting to focus on how this was the most important thing to him a few minutes ago.

“You can’t. Right.” Lance dropped his hand back to his side and stiffened his posture. His face became tense and highly serious, the image was weird and very un-Lance-like. “I finally tell you how I feel and you can’t even give up a fricken knife so that we can go home safe.” He didn’t look at Keith as he said this and the rigidness in his whole body was very apparent. He looked hurt and conflicted but mostly angry. Keith didn’t know if it was directed at him or himself. “You haven’t even told me how you feel, the only thing you really care about is that stupid thing isn’t it?”

“Lance, it’s not like that!” Keith tried to reach for his hand but Lance took a step back frowning. “One thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other. I-” 

“Yes it does,” Lance cut him off harshly. Keith couldn’t believe how quickly that face that had been looking at him with such fondness now twisted in anger. Just like the other, Keith didn’t know this Lance. Sure, they bickered and yelled and annoyed each other, but there was never any real anger, it was always just friendly animosity. But not now. 

“That’s how it’s always been!” Lance continued, his voice rising. “Mr. Number One Pilot, Keith Kogane can’t even bother to pay attention and consider us mere mortals. Sorry if a measly cargo pilot isn’t enough for you, Keith. If you’re so good by yourself maybe it’s you who doesn’t need Voltron, who doesn’t need our family. I don’t care, I don’t care if you don’t need us, if you don’t want me. Maybe I am better off without you. We were fine before you and we’ll be fine now. You know what, have fun on your own. Seems like that’s what you’re best at doing.”

\--

Shiro couldn’t believe what he was watching. That wasn’t Lance. That wasn’t in the least bit something Lance would ever say or do. No matter what, he would never say that to one of them. Even with their so-called rivalry, Shiro knew Lance cared about Keith and he would never… As he watched not-Lance get more and more worked up and Keith on the floor looking like his world was falling apart Shiro thought of what Kolivan said about the suit and immediately he felt as desperate as Keith looked.

“You need to get him out of there,” he said urgently, not being able to tear his eyes away from the bizarre version of one of his friends terrorizing the boy he’s come to think of as a little brother.

“He can decide when to leave,” Kolivan replied dryly.

“You're messing with his mind. You can’t do this!” Shiro snapped, turning to the Galra, enraged that these mind games were being played on anyone at all, let alone Keith.

“Knowledge or death, Shiro,” Kolivan repeated his earlier statement with as much aridity as he had before.

“I'm calling this off,” Shiro stated before turning to try and make his way down to Keith. However, his way was blocked by other Marmora soldiers, with their weapons up and ready to charge, stopping him from continuing.

\--

“Lance! Lance, no!” Keith watched as Lance turned and began walking away and desperately tried to get up. His shoulder ached more than ever and his legs felt like jell-o as he trembled, trying to get on his feet. To chase after the boy who had just told him everything he’s been wanting to hear for so long and then everything he was afraid of hearing for just as much time. He felt his heart bursting, hurting more than any of the physical pain as he stumbled after the blue paladin crying for him to stop. 

“Lance, wait! It’s not like that! Lance!” Lance didn’t look back for a second and burst out through the door Keith could only imagine he came in through. So Keith followed, not caring about anything at this point but the boy in front of him. He had to explain. He couldn’t leave him thinking those things, he had to make sure he knew how important he and their family were to Keith, how much he needed them. How much he’d lose it if they ever left him like he was doing right now. How much Keith wanted to share all the same feelings he had just told him.

As he crossed the threshold, a bright white light blinded him and he blinked trying to take in his new surroundings. Lance was nowhere to be seen, what he did find as his eyes got used to the yellowish light, the familiar surroundings, was something he never thought he’d see again, something perhaps far more heartbreaking.

“What the…” Keith looked around the home he had before the Castle, the little cabin in the desert he hid in when he ran from the Garrison. He took in his posters and maps and notes but mostly he was stunned to find a person in there. A familiar, and yet oddly not at all familiar anymore, person.

“Keith,” the man said when he looked up and saw him.

“Dad?” Keith asked, more of a reflex than anything. He hadn’t seen his father in so long he hadn’t even known he’d forgotten his voice. Looking at that face he had lost so many years ago seemed so alien to him now.

“You're home, son,” his father said and Keith could only desperately wish it to be true. 

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling outside and Keith’s attention turned to the windows, to the bizarre yellow light flooding in and the shaking he could feel all around him.

“What's going on outside?” he asked, scared of the answer. Scared of this whole situation.

“Don't worry about that,” his father said, eerily calm. “We'll be fine as long as we stay in here. Don't you want to catch up?”

“Of course I do.” There was nothing Keith had wanted more for so many years. Yet, it felt off. It felt like one of his dreams again, the ones he had for so long ever since his dad died, and those dreams more often than not turned into the worst nightmares.

“Son, so many years have passed. I have a lot to tell you.” His father remained so calm it made Keith stay on edge. This whole situation didn’t feel right. Where was everyone else? Where did Lance go? How did he get here?

There was another rumbling outside, this time louder, and the ground shook from the force.

“What is that?” Keith tried asking his father again.

“Everything's fine.” This time Keith couldn’t hold it in, he walked over to the window and looked outside. He saw legions of Galra troops marching his way, marching on Earth! That couldn’t be possible but here he was looking at it. In the distance he saw Red, she sat there menacing, radiating to him her feelings of panic towards the people outside. _They need help, they need Voltron._

“Dad, I-I'm sorry,” Keith said, already turning to leave. “I gotta go. There are people that need me out there.”

“Don't you want to know about where you came from?” Keith made the mistake of looking back at his father. He was standing on the same spot looking at him calmly and twirling Keith’s knife in his hands. “Your mother gave it to me.”

“Mom?” Keith froze. He knew nothing about his mother. This was all he ever wanted, to know more. All thoughts seemed to vanish from his head at his dad’s next words.

“She'll be here soon.”

\--

“This is ridiculous! You’re going to kill him!” Shiro exclaimed, staring at his friend lying below, seemingly unconscious, trapped possibly inside an even worse nightmare than the one he had been witness to.

“Knowledge or death,” Kolivan repeated once more.

“Stop saying that!” Shiro lost his temper, panicking for his friend. “Look at him, he’s going to die if you don’t stop this right now!”

All of a sudden, there was an explosion in the distance that seemed to shake the entire base and a Marmora soldier came running into the room. “The Red Lion is attacking the base!” they shouted desperately to Kolivan.

For a second Shiro was confused as to how that could be possible, but one small glance to the paladin below, trapped inside his own mind, and he knew what was happening. “It's trying to break through!” He told Kolivan. “It has a link with Keith. It knows when he's in danger. It's coming for him. You need to stop this now before it gets any worse!”

\--

“You gotta tell me, Dad,” Keith begged with his father. “I have to know. Where did the knife come from? What does it mean?” He had so many questions it felt like his head would explode.

“Your mother is almost here. She'll tell you everything,” his dad said, as calmly as ever smiling at him as if he hadn’t just told Keith that the mother he never knew was about to arrive with all the answers he needed.

Keith wanted to stay with every fiber of his being. He wanted more time with his dad, he wanted to meet his mom and he wanted so much to find the answers to the blade he’s been carrying around for so long. But he knew he couldn’t. He knew this wasn’t right and he knew it was his duty to help the people outside.

“I can't wait around anymore. I have to go,” he said, once again turning to leave.

“If you go out that door, you'll never find out who you are,” his dad called after him.

“Goodbye, Dad,” Keith said before pushing open the door and walking through.

\--

“Keith, are you okay?”

As Keith opened his eyes, Shiro’s face swam before him. He was completely disoriented. His body hurt, his head pounded and his heart felt like it had been ripped out of his chest. If Shiro was here to add to his misery, just another weird test or illusion, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take it anymore. 

“No… wait,” he said, trying to push Shiro away. Shiro only gripped him tighter, holding Keith upright and trying to steady him.

“Stop what you're doing!” Blade soldiers came running towards the two of them in full armour, Kolivan in the lead.

“What are you talking about? What's going on?” Keith asked, trying to get his bearings.

“Call off your beast!” Kolivan demanded.

“Move out of the way! We're leaving!” Shiro told them, supporting Keith’s weight with a hand around his waist, Keith’s arm around his shoulders. The room they were in rumbled and debris fell all around them.

“You're not leaving with that blade,” Kolivan said, still placed between the two of them and the exit. “It does not belong to you. You failed to awaken it!”

“What does that mean?” Keith asked desperately. He was tired, hurt, confused and just wanted the answers he came here to get.

“Give up the blade!” another Marmora soldier said and then charged them.

Shiro removed his arm from around his, his hand turning into the powerful purple blade as he ran forward towards the soldier, ready to protect Keith.

They crashed in the middle and Keith couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t see Shiro get hurt because of his stubbornness.

“Wait!” He yelled. “Just take the knife!” He extended the knife towards the Blades. He thought about what Lance had said. He knew now that wasn’t really Lance, but his voice still echoed in his head. He thought about his father and what had happened before Shiro showed up. “It doesn't matter where I come from,” he continued. “I know who I am. We all need to work together to defeat Zarkon. If that means I give up this knife, fine. Take it.”

Keith looked down at his knife, confused as a light abruptly sparked from it. “Mm?”

“You've awoken the blade!” Kolivan said as they all looked towards the beautiful light expanding more and more from his knife. In a matter of seconds, the knife morphed and Keith was holding a beautiful sword.

“The only way this is possible is if Galra blood runs through your veins.” Kolivan continued as Keith looked down at the sword, stunned.

Keith’s gaze left the blade he was holding for a second to look at Shiro’s shocked face. The severity of what he had just found out slowly hitting him. Then, the room shook again and they all remembered Red was still attacking them, trying to get to Keith.

He breathed in deep and called out to her through their mental connection, calming her down and explaining he wasn’t in any harm, while Shiro rushed off with Kolivan to try and contact the castle.

\--

_“Five four three two one!”_

_“Princess, we're coming back, and we're bringing someone you should meet.”_

_“They're all right!”_

_“Yes, they did it!”_


	2. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith tells the others what happened back at the Marmora base.

_“Five four three two one!”_

_“Princess, we're coming back, and we're bringing someone you should meet.”_

_“They're all right!”_

_“Yes, they did it!”_

\--

Keith boarded Red with Shiro and Kolivan in a daze. He sat in the pilot’s seat and flew his lion as if on autopilot. He was roughly aware of Shiro hailing the castle and telling the Princess they were returning but he couldn’t focus on his voice. He still had a varga until they got to the castle to think and he tried harder than anything to organize his thoughts. He looked out into space but he didn’t really see anything, images of Lance’s faces, his father’s, the knife that turned into a sword, the revelation that he was…

“Hey, how are you doing?” Keith almost jumped at Shiro’s hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t heard him coming closer. He sighed and settled for shrugging and looking out the window.

Shiro waited for a moment to see if he would say anything else but Keith’s head still felt like caos, he had no idea how to answer that question.

“You know it doesn’t matter right?” Keith glanced up at him and then back out into space, he looked tired and caring and mostly concerned. “What Kolivan said, about you having Galra blood, it’s okay, it doesn’t change anything.”

“How could it not?” Keith’s voice sounded broken and alien even to himself. “Shiro, I have Galra blood in me… the _enemy’s_ blood in me. I am half of what we are fighting! My mother she was- she was...”

“Blood doesn’t define us, Keith. Who your mother was doesn’t define who you are. You’re not the enemy, you’re part of Voltron! You’re family!” Those words made Keith’s chest clench, his heart pounded and tears stung his eyes. “You’re still you, Keith. Galra blood or not you’re still the same person and it doesn’t matter,” Shiro said calmly, his hand still on Keith’s shoulder.

“It will to everyone else,” Keith answered quietly. He knew it was true. The others, they would never accept him.

“That’s not true. They might need a minute to adjust maybe, or at least Allura might but… they care about you Keith, they’ll see you the same way as I do. It won’t matter to them, everything will be okay.” He squeezed Keith’s shoulder a bit comfortingly, making him look up at him finally.

Keith tried to fight back his tears, the emotion threatening to burst out.

Shiro hesitated for a second before adding carefully: “Lance won’t care…”

Keith tensed up, panic seeping into him. “What?” he asked desperately.

Shiro removed his hand from his shoulder and stepped in front of him, leaning against the console. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. “I uh… I saw what happened. We could see your trial from the control room and… I saw what your suit showed you. I saw and… and heard everything that happened with… well, not-Lance.”

Keith stared at him blankly, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. What his suit showed him? He did understand that whatever he had seen somehow hadn’t been real, but it had felt so real. It couldn’t be possible because Lance wasn’t there, his dad wasn’t there. But...

All of the past events were still fighting for his attention inside his head, Lance, his dad, the new revelations about his mother, he still didn’t fully understand all that had happened. Shiro’s words bounced around his head crashing into all the other thoughts.

“What my suit showed me…” He repeated quietly to himself, trying to process it.

“Kolivan explained to me while you were in there,” Shiro said delicately, looking at Keith’s confused and panicked face. “He said that your suit had the ability to show you your greatest hopes and fear. Somehow that was part of the test…”

“Hopes and fears…” Keith repeated again feeling lightheaded. The thoughts that had been running chaotically all over his mind suddenly started to slow down and connect. 

His father alive, with him again. The desire to meet his mother. Lance.

Having to leave his dad behind. Not waiting for his mother. Lance…

“Keith?” Keith looked up at hearing Shiro’s concerned voice. He looked up at the worried face of his friend and only then realised there were tears streaming slowly down his cheeks. He wiped at them quickly but couldn’t stop the sobbing. “Hey, hey it’s okay,” Shiro crouched down in front of him and held his hands trying to comfort him. Keith looked at him but all he could think of was how earlier he had thought it was Lance sitting in front of him, trying to comfort him, telling him that…

Keith shook his head trying to shake the thought away too. It wasn’t real. It was all a stupid test, a stupid made-up vision that was created for him, to torture him. He slowly felt his anger start to rise, he couldn’t believe how vulnerable they had made him, how all of them had seen all of it, had seen his greatest-

“Keith…” Shiro started to say something but Keith interrupted him, feeling his blood boil and his heart pounding.

“Did you see my dad too?” he asked barely containing his sobs, trying desperately to control the tears as his heartbreak turned to anger.

“What?” Shiro looked confused. “Uh.. no. After… after the fake version of Lance left you just kind of collapsed. I was trying to get to you when Red started attacking the base and… and then you woke up.”

Keith looked at their hands on his lap. He tried to control his breathing, to calm down. He was fully aware they were still heading towards the castle and that he’d better get his shit together soon. The two of them sat there like that for a little bit, Keith just breathing and attempting to come to terms with everything that had happened and Shiro holding his hand, giving him the time he needed. 

After a while, when he felt he could breathe normally again and that his voice wouldn’t betray him, Keith looked up at his friend’s concerned face. “I’m okay, Shiro. Really,” he added when Shiro gave him a small disbelieving look.

“Okay,” he said, releasing Keith’s hand and going back to his previous position of leaning on the console. “Do you want to talk more about it?”

“Not really,” Keith answered, trying to determine how much time they had before getting to the castle and facing all the others. He was sure that Shiro was wrong, they wouldn’t accept his half Galra side. Hell, he didn’t accept it. “We’re gonna have to talk about it when we get back anyway.”

“Okay.” Shiro hesitated for a second and then added: “What about the other thing?”

Keith glanced up at him and then back to his hands twirling on his lap. “Yeah… we uh… we can talk about that.”

There was a long silence between them where Keith refused to look at his friend and Shiro seemed to ponder how or what he was going to say. It was enough time that Keith relaxed a bit thinking maybe he gave up and this conversation was just too weird to have.

But Shiro, being the great friend and leader that he was, cut the silence by awkwardly asking: “So… Lance, huh?”

After all the emotional, heartbreaking and life-altering things Keith had gone through during that day, hearing those words come from his friend, whom he looked up to and thought of as something of a big brother, was like his breaking point. It was just too awkward for him to handle and he burst out laughing.

“Wow, Shiro, ever heard of tact? Because you really are in need of some,” he chuckled as he focused back on his friend who looked very relieved that the tension had been broken.

“Hey, I don’t know! How am I supposed to start this conversation? You never said anything and you guys fight all the time!” Shiro tried to defend himself.

“That’s more him…” Keith admitted with a groan. “He just has this way of riling me up all the goddamn time! And I fall for it every time!”

“Yeah, he does pick on you a lot,” Shiro agreed, a pensive look on his face. “Ever think maybe he just likes your attention?”

Keith snorted and gave his friend a look of disbelief. “Are you kidding? Shiro, come on, the guy can’t stand me!”

“Maybe you should just tell him how you feel and then you can find out for yourself.”

Keith stared at the Black Paladin as if he’d grown a second head. “You think I should- did- did you not just hear what I said? No! That is the worst idea you've ever had!”

Shiro gave him a look of endearment and smiled. “Okay, okay. You decide what you want to do, I’m just saying.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but thank God we’re arriving. I’d rather deal with whatever is waiting in the castle than this conversation,” Keith said looking back towards the controls as they neared the hanger of the Red lion. 

Shiro laughed at him and went back towards Kolivan preparing for their landing.

\--

_“Princess Allura, it's good to see that the rumors are true. You're still alive after all these years.”_

_“So is Zarkon. Can we consider you our ally in the fight against him?”_

_“Yes, but we have little time to discuss this. I just received word from our spy inside the Galran hierarchy. They have become aware of our presence, so the timetable for our plan has been moved up.”_

_“How soon do we need to begin?”_

_“Now.”_

\--

Everyone started walking away, to begin the planning and discussion, and Keith felt himself panicking. He had to take control of the situation before something happened and he had to explain himself. He couldn’t let the others find out, he had to say something.

Before his brain even caught up to what his mouth was doing he was yelling, “Wait!”

Everyone looked back at him, startled at his outburst. Keith had no idea how to start or what to even say. How could he tell them this thing that would make them see him in such a different light?

“Yes? Keith?” Allura asked him. She was looking at him curiously, a bit surprised, but with no fear or hate in her eyes. He knew that would change as soon as he came clean about what he had to tell them. Her reaction was the one he most feared, except maybe for…

“What is it? Cat got your tongue?” Lance asked from where he stood, arms crossed, probably waiting to bait Keith into a fight.

“Keith,” Shiro called his attention and gave him a small smile, nodding his head slightly. “Go ahead.”

Keith took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. “Before we do anything, I need to tell all of you something,” he said, opening his eyes and trying to not make eye contact with any one of them. He settles for staring at the floor somewhere between Pidge and Hunk. “I don’t know how you will feel after I say it but I have to, it can’t be a secret between us.”

“What are you talking about?” Pidge asked. Keith thought that maybe this is how they felt when they told them about themselves, only so so much worse.

“There’s something I found out while we were in the Marmora base,” he continued. “Something about myself that I didn’t know before.” He paused and took a deep breath again, eyes briefly glancing up to look over his friends’ reactions. Then he told them everything.

He explained how he took his knife to the base even when they said no weapons. Allura tried to interrupt but he plunged along, if he stopped he didn’t know how he would bring himself to continue. He explained how the Blade put him in the trials. Knowledge or death. Keith would look up once in a while to watch their frowning faces but he couldn’t maintain their eye contact. While he recounted getting through all the Blade soldiers and going through the hole in the floor, he stared at Lance’s feet, shuffling from one to the other all the time, never still.

“After that I… I saw something.”

Well maybe not _everything_.

“I sort of passed out and saw this… vision or hallucination, I guess, of my dad. He was holding the blade and he told me my mom was coming,” he glanced over at Shiro and Kolivan, hoping they wouldn’t call him out for the part of the story he skipped. Shiro looked supportive and a bit concerned but Kolivan only had a neutral expression, almost as if he was bored of this. “I left before she could show up though, I never saw her. When I woke up, Shiro was there and Red was attacking the base. I think she could feel what I was going through but… uh… but then, well… I tried to give them the knife and something happened.”

Keith pulled his knife out and showed it to the others. There was a strong light and the knife became a sword, just as it had done back at the Marmora base.

“Woah, cool!” Pidge exclaimed. They immediately dashed forward inspecting the blade in Keith’s hands, their eyes sparkling with interest.

“What does that mean?” Lance asked, his smile a bit hesitant but attempting to lighten the mood nonetheless. “You got some magical samurai ancestry or something?”

Allura was frowning at him. She seemed to be measuring how concerned she should be at what just happened. Keith couldn’t bring himself to answer. 

“The only way to awaken a Marmora Blade is if Galra blood runs through your veins,” Kolivan explained, that neutral expression never leaving his face. 

Keith flinched and looked down at the sword in his hands. He could see Pidge’s hands still in front of him and could feel their hesitation. He stared at the sword as it shrunk back down to a knife scared to look up and see their faces. The silence dragged on for a few ticks and Keith’s anxiety rose and rose before Allura broke it.

“Your mother…?” She asked cautiously.

Keith looked at her and could barely stop himself from flinching again as he saw the look in her eyes. He nodded slowly. “I- I didn’t know,” he tried explaining himself, desperate for them to understand that this wasn’t his fault, _he didn’t know_.

Allura looked devastated and furious at the same time. Keith could see how she couldn't even look at him before she turned around and left calling for Kolivan so that they could discuss their next moves. Keith put his knife away and looked down at his feet waiting for all of the others to follow her but he was surprised at what happened next.

“So I was right,” Lance said, walking forward and putting his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You do have awesome magical samurai ancestry! Always knew you were a weirdo. Now it makes sense why you were so good at the garrison, you know that’s cheating right, Mullet?”

Keith could only stare at him in shock.

“I demand rematches!” Lance proclaimed to the whole room clapping his hands, dragging Pidge out of the shock they were in.

“You can’t demand rematches, being half Galra isn’t a genetic predisposition for good flying, Lance! Keith is just better than you, deal with it!” They said rolling their eyes and shoving Lance.

“Nope, don’t believe it, can’t hear you!” Lance said, putting his hands over his ears. He turned back to Keith grabbing his arm and dragging him back towards Red. “Come on, Mullet, we’re doing this! We can race in the lions and then in the pods and, hey, we could race those disk thingies too. Pidge make a spreadsheet or something!”

While Lance and Pidge bickered about what qualified as important enough to make a spreadsheet for and Hunk laughed from where he was, saying he would make popcorn if they made a day out of it, Keith glanced at Shiro who was watching the whole interaction and smiling. Shiro gave him the biggest ‘I told you so’ look before walking away as Keith was dragged into what Lance was now calling ‘Mullet and Sharpshooter’s Grand Official Face-Off’.

Maybe it would take a moment for Allura to get used to Keith’s heritage. It would even take him a minute to get used to it. But Lance being his normal, annoying, insufferable self making Keith go through his makeshift Olympics, made Keith feel like maybe it really was okay and he couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his face.


End file.
